This I Believe

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore” (Andre Gide), is one of my favorite quotes. I believe that everything you dream, everything that you want to do, you can do it, but sometimes we are afraid to lose sight of the shore.

My name is Lourdes, I’m from Mexico and now I’m living in Massachusetts working as an Au Pair. When I decided to travel to he USA for one year to study English, it was very hard for me because I had never been to a place without my family and I felt very sad staying far away. However, I was very excited for my trip because I really wanted to study a second language to have a better future.

I had to choose between two options, the first one to stay in my country and look for a job in my city or go to USA and do that I wanted, and I chose the second option. I knew that if I wanted to have a good job in today’s world it would be not enough to just have a career, I need to know more than one language.

Although I missed my family, I’m really happy that I stayed here. I’m studying at two different Colleges, one of them is Harvard University. It was a big dream for me, and sometimes I can’t believe that it has come true.

Now my family is very happy because they know that I’m fine, and I’m doing the things that I like. Maybe if I decided to stay in my country and I had found a job it would not have been bad, but I would never felt like I feel today. I think that I did the right thing. I chose to lose sight of the shore, despite being afraid.

I believe that in every decision you have two options. You can choose the safe option and stay at home, or you can take a risk, face your fear and follow your dream. And if you fail, you have two options, to look at the negative side and feel bad, or to look ahead and see the positive of things.

You can choose to take a risk, lose sight of the shore or stay in the same place and let your dream die…and this I believe.

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Top 100 Essays USB Drive

This USB drive contains 100 of the top This I Believe audio broadcasts of the last ten years, plus some favorites from Edward R. Murrow's radio series of the 1950s. It's perfect for personal or classroom use! Click here to learn more.

This week’s essay

Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.